Bradford-based A H Marks - the UK's largest independent chemical company - has broken its environmental targets for the fourth year in succession.

Tough objectives set out by the Wyke company in its environmental report last year have all been exceeded.

These were on reducing energy levels, emissions to the atmosphere, traffic flow off site and the production of hazardous waste.

A H Marks produces agrochemicals and fine chemicals and more than 70 per cent of its business is exported to around 50 countries - mainly in North America and Europe.

The firm is the only one in Yorkshire to be an accredited member of the Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).

The firm has set new targets in its latest environmental report which has been given to 4,000 schools, businesses and households in the area.

Its main achievements were:

l Being audited by the British Standards Institute and certified to the International Standard for Environmental Management systems ISO 14001.

l Verification by the Eco Management and Audit Scheme.

l Winning the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Best Environmental Strategy Award

l Hosting a visit by nine senior environmental regulators from India for the Environment Agency.

But the company's operations director Gary Duke warned that performance year on year in the future might not be as dramatic as it has been over the last five.

The company narrowly missed its performance targets for water consumption and the production of process effluent and non-hazardous waste - but each of these areas showed improvement over the previous year.

Mr Duke said: "The fact that we were able to meet most of our performance targets and received independent recognition is down to the efforts of every single person employed at A H Marks and is very good news for the environment, the local community and the company."

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